The Roxanne Drew story
by WhyTK
Summary: The story of a Collinsport girl.
1. Chapter 1

**This story is part of ****_Dark Shadows 2_****, my concept of a sequel to Tim Burton's version of ****_Dark Shadows_****, including the deleted scenes on the Blu-Ray Disc. It will appear in ****_Dark Shadows 2_**** [if I ever finish it] as a flashback. I risk committing spoilers by publishing it now, but it is finished and I am so pleased with it that I have to publish it now. **

**This story is also a **_**prequel**_** to the **_**sequel**_** of my story "Doctor Hoffman, Vampire." In other words:  
1\. read ****"Doctor Hoffman, Vampire."  
****2\. then read "The Roxanne Drew Story."  
****3\. then read "Julia and Roxanne."**

**I do not own ****_Dark Shadows_**** or any of its characters, institutions, or entities. **

**_Dark Shadows 2_****: ****"The Roxanne Drew Story: Chapter 1"  
**The movie version of this story would begin with a voiceover by Barbara Blackburn. The voiceover would be accompanied by appropriate motion picture images of young Roxanne Drew, growing up in Collinsport. In these images, Jessica Chastain would play Roxanne's mother, Roseanne Drew. Anne and names ending in "-anne" are very popular in Mrs. Drew's side of the family.

**VOICEOVER:  
**"My name is Roxanne Drew. Victoria Winters first came to Collinsport by train when she was a grown woman. I was born and raised in Collinsport, as were my parents before me and their parents before them, and so on.

"If I do say so myself, I grew up strong and smart, pretty and popular. I was a cheerleader and a Girl Scout. I sang in the church choir and I played the clarinet in the high school band. I went to school dances and I went on dates with boys.

"And for the most part, I was happy.

"I was in high school during the war years. I spent the summers of those four terrifying years cleaning fish in the cannery where my father used to work. I used most of my pay to buy war bonds. My mother and I turned our front and back yards into Victory Gardens.

" '... the cannery where my father used to work...' He did not work there during the war. He was in the Navy Reserve, and they recalled him to active duty months before Pearl Harbor. He spent nearly four years fighting U-Boats in the Atlantic.

"By early 1945, the U-Boats were beaten and the end of the war in Europe was in sight. Dad's ship was ordered to Portsmouth Naval Shipyard [which is actually in Kittery, Maine] for a two month overhaul.

"Dad was able to come home for two whole weeks. The three of us were overjoyed at this reunion. But our joy was tempered by the fact that when the overhaul was finished, Dad and his ship were going to the Pacific. And we had learned a new word recently: kamikaze. Guns, torpedoes, and bombs weren't enough for the Japanese. They had to invent the most accurate guided missile of the war.

"The happiest day of my life was when Dad came home, safe and sound. The second happiest day of my life was August 6, 1945, when President Truman went on the radio to say, 'Roxanne, your Dad is coming home.'

"Those were not his exact words, of course. His exact words were about dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. But what I heard was, 'We can now kill everyone in Japan without American boys dying on Japanese soil. Which means no American sailors need die getting our boys onto Japanese soil.

" 'Roxanne, this new bomb means your Dad, and thousands of other Dads, is coming home.'

"I graduated from Collinsport High in 1946. I went to a secretarial school in Portland for a year, and then I got a job typing and filing at Harridge Construction in Collinsport. For the next four years I typed and filed and made coffee and ran errands, while my parents worried about me.

"By the fall of 1951, all the other girls in my high school class were married or had graduated from college or both. Many of them were mothers. I was still at living at home and working at Harridge. I had offered to pay rent for my room, but Mom and Dad refused to take it. They did allow me to pay for my share of the groceries.

"I dated less and less as the years passed. Most of the boys my age were in college, or married, or in the service. The boys who were still around all had cars and wanted to take them as well as me on dates. I would stare at them with big innocent eyes and say, 'This is Collinsport, we can walk to everything. Why do you want to take your car along?' Few of those boys asked me a second time. The ones who did ask a second time got the same 'Why do you want to take your car along?' question-for-an-answer, and did not ask a third time.

"In 1951, I shocked my parents by telling them I had a job interview in New York, and if I got the job I would be moving there immediately. When they asked me why, I gave all the usual reasons: I want to see the big city, I want to finally leave home, I want to finally be independent. They tried to talk me out of it.

"My mother finally expressed out loud the fear that some slick New Yorker would seduce me and get me pregnant and then desert me.

"With tears in my eyes, I told her, 'That's the one thing you don't have to worry about, Mom.' I took a deep breath. 'I'm ... I'm frigid. The good news is no smooth talking New Yorker will ever seduce me. The bad news is I will never get married, never give you any grandchildren.'

"Mom and I cried on each others' shoulders while Dad hugged both of us and fought back his own tears.

"It hurt me to hurt my Mom and Dad this way. It hurt even more because I was lying to them. I was not frigid in 1951, and I am not frigid now.

"I am a Lesbian.

"I tried to like boys. I really did try! I tried to fantasize about the boys I knew, as I touched myself under the sheet at night, but I always ended up with the girls.

"I tried to fantasize about Humphrey Bogart in _Casablanca_, and I wound up with Ingrid Bergman. I tried to fantasize about Clark Gable as Rhett Butler in _Gone With the Wind_, and I wound up in a threesome with Scarlett and Melanie.

"I tried to fantasize about Jack Haley as the Scarecrow [even though that would be pretty itchy] in _The Wizard of Oz_. I wound up in a threesome with Dorothy and the Wicked Witch of the West. The Witch and I soon had Dorothy screaming, 'We're NOT in Kansas anymore!'

"And whenever I let a boy kiss me on the second or third date, it made me nauseous.

"I really did try.

"I knew I would never find a girlfriend in Collinsport, or anywhere in Maine for that matter, because I would never dare to look for one. But in big, decadent, corrupt (as we small town New Englanders saw it) New York, I would have a chance.

"It worked. I had six girlfriends in my twenty-one years in New York. Every breakup was painful, whether I did the breaking or she did. But the last was the worst.

"Chris left me for a man. For a dirty, hairy, smelly f***ing man! A man was sticking his Dirty Thing in the mouth I once kissed and the nethermouth I once ate. Just thinking about it made me throw up more than once.

"My father died in 1970, of a sudden heart attack while he was at work. He was seventy-one.

"The first seven months of 1972 were reasonable happy ones for me.

"But Chris left me in August.

"In September, my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer, after fifty-something years of smoking. Four weeks from diagnosis to death. I spent those four weeks shuttling back and forth between home and New York. A few days at home taking care of Mom, then the train to New York and a few days at work while various relatives took care of Mom, then the train back to Collinsport and repeat.

"When Mom died, I was already physically and emotionally exhausted. I was also terrified.

"What I found at work every time I went back filled me with pride and terror. I was proud that I had trained and organized the secretaries so well that the place was running smoothly without me. And I was terrified that the boss would notice it was running smoothly without me, and decide he didn't need me anymore.

"Now it is a beautiful, sunny day in Collinsport, in October 1972. But there is no 'Sunshine in my Soul Today.' I have just buried my mother."

* * *

Roxanne Drew (Barbara Blackburn) comes home from her mother's funeral. She has told everyone, relatives and friends alike, that she wants to be alone. No, she does not want to go to lunch, thank you anyway. No, please don't bring any more food to the house, I'm alone there and I have no appetite right now, thank you anyway.

Tony Peterson (Joseph Gordon Levitt) drove Roxanne to her mother's funeral and now he drives her home. He stops his dark blue '66 Plymouth Barracuda at the curb in front of ... _Roxanne's_ house. It really is _her_ house now. Tony will have to get used to calling it that, until Roxanne sells it, maybe to strangers.

Roxanne kisses Tony on the check and says, "Thank you, Tony."

"You're welcome. Roxanne, if you need anything ... "

"Tony, you've said that a hundred times, and for the hundredth time, thank you." She kisses him again, gets out and walks to her door.

Tony watches Roxanne as she walks to her door. "God, she is so pretty," he thinks. Even on the day of Roxanne's mother's funeral, he can't help thinking of her this way.

When Roxanne reaches the door, she turns around and waves at Tony. Tony waves back, and then finally drives away, as Roxanne goes in.

Roxanne changes from her dress and high heels into jeans and a sweater. As always, since the year she turned 40, she wears the gold-rimmed half-moon-glasses that she actually needs only for reading. To see anything else, she simply looks over them.

She paces the house barefoot, from the front door in the living room to the back door in the combination laundry room and pantry behind the kitchen. She wonders, not for the 1st time, how much will she get if she sells the house. _If_ she sells it? She doesn't want to sell it, but she can't afford to keep it as a vacation home. And how much can she get for her parents' car? It only has 40,000 miles on it because her father walked to and from work in all but the worst weather - and Dad's definition of "the worst weather" was damn near a NorEaster. But the car is a 1959 Ford, and she doubts there is much of a market for the '59 models now that the '73's are in the showrooms.

She wants to go for a long walk, as she so often did while growing up here, or to ride the 10-speed bicycle she bought 12 years ago. Walking and biking are habits she continued all the years she came back to her parents' house during her vacations. But walking or riding today means running into people who will want to talk to her and console her, and she can't take much more of that.

She looks at her mother's keys in the bowl on the kitchen table. That is where her mother kept her keys for as long as Roxanne can remember.

"No," she tells herself. "They are _my_ keys now."

"So I'll go for a drive instead, now that I own a car for the 1st time in my life," she decides. She puts on her black thong-sandals, grabs her purse, and scoops up _her_ keys from the bowl. She walks out the back door to the red and white '59 Ford Country Sedan (what kind of name is that for a station wagon?) in the detached garage.

Roxanne drives all over Collinsport. She drives past every place she can remember from growing up here, even the places where the buildings she remembers are no longer there. She saves Harbor Street, along the Collinsport waterfront, for last.

She sees a yellow '57 Chevy station wagon and 2 green trucks marked Harridge Construction parked at the ruins of the Collins cannery. Burke Devlin [Harridge's black haired, mustached foreman] is talking to a woman in a long dress and a man dressed in black who holds a black umbrella between himself and the sun. Roxanne realizes the woman is Elizabeth Collins Stoddard. The man in black must be the mysterious Barnabas Collins she has heard so much about.

Roxanne barely glanced at the _Collinsport Star_ that morning, but now she remembers the item on the bottom corner of page one: "Collins Cannery to Reopen." The debate in her head during the drive is settled. She glances at the gas gauge: a little over a quarter tank. Perfect. She turns into the Shell station and gets out as the attendant approaches. She says, "Fill it up with regular, please. I'll be back in a few minutes."

The attendant has a hard time getting the nozzle into the Ford's filler pipe, because his attention is divided between it and the sight of Roxanne walking away from him. He is 19, and he wishes that all the older women who pull in here looked like Roxanne.

Roxanne walks back to the Collins Cannery and stops at a polite distance from Mr. Devlin and his 2 clients. She is in luck. After just a few seconds, Mr. Devlin walks away from Elizabeth and Barnabas to talk to his men. Roxanne approaches Elizabeth and Barnabas.

"Excuse me. Mrs. Stoddard?"

"Yes."

"I'm Roxanne Drew. My cousin Suzanne Jennings was in your high school class."

"Yes, of course I remember Suzanne." They shake hands. "But I only see her at the reunions now. How is she?"

"She's great. She and her husband live in Bangor now."

"Wait a minute ... Wasn't your mother's obituary in the paper yesterday?"

"Yes, Ma'am." (Roxanne tells herself, "I will not cry, I will not cry.") "The funeral was this morning. When I got home, I couldn't sit still. So I changed my clothes and jumped in the family car to go for a drive." She turns half-way around to point at the Ford.

"I'm so sorry about your mother."

"Thank you." I will not cry, I will not cry.

To Roxanne's relief, Elizabeth changes the subject. "Miss Drew, allow me to introduce my cousin from England, Barnabas Collins III. Barnabas, Miss Roxanne Drew, descended from 2 old Collinsport families."

Barnabas bows to Roxanne, and they shake hands. "I am sorry to meet you under these sad circumstances, Miss Drew. Please accept my sympathies on your bereavement."

"Thank you, Mr. Collins. Mrs. Stoddard, Mr. Collins, I saw the article in this morning's _Star_ about you reopening the cannery. I know I'm jumping the gun ... "

('Jumping the gun?' Barnabas wonders)

" ... but when I saw the two of you here I had to stop and apply for a job. I apologize for the informal setting..." she waves a hand at their surroundings "... and my casual clothes."

Elizabeth smiles. "Think nothing of it. Where are you working now?"

"The South Hudson Insurance Company in New York. I have been there for 21 years. I started as a typist and file clerk. Now I'm the Executive Secretary - which my boss calls being the President's secretary and the secretaries' President . As soon as I get home today, I'll call my boss and give him my resignation orally. Tomorrow I'm taking the train to New York. The day after that I'll go back to work to clean out my desk. I am hoping Mr. McCoy will let me leave immediately, and not insist on 2 weeks notice."

"Miss Drew, may I ask why you are leaving them so suddenly after 21 years?"

"I'm homesick, Mrs. Stoddard." I will not cry, I will not cry. "I've done a lot of crying for my mother the last 2 days. But driving around this morning, I realized I was also crying with homesickness. I know that's crazy. Homesickness is supposed to be about family, not just about a place. But both of my parents are dead, and _now_ I'm homesick. I want to come back to all this." She suddenly finds herself almost babbling.

"Today I drove past all the places I knew when I was growing up here. The houses where my friends lived, our church, the houses where both sets of grandparents lived. All the schools I went to have been torn down and replaced, but I drove past where they used to be.

"And I have gone through my parents papers. The house is paid for, and the insurance and property taxes add up to less than 12 months rent on my apartment in New York. The car is paid for too, a long time ago, obviously. The car will be 14 in January, but it only has 40,000 miles on it and my father kept it in good shape.

"I have some money saved and my mother left me some. I am coming home to Collinsport even if I don't have a job waiting for me. I have a car for the 1st time in my life, so if I have to commute for the 1st time in my life, I will. I'll commute all the way to Portland if I have to. But if I work at the Collins Cannery, I can walk to work, just like my father did. I'll start over as a fish cleaner if I have to, but I am coming home."

"Forgive me, Miss Drew, but you are forty-something aren't you?"

Roxanne does not hesitate to answer, "Forty-four. I'll be forty-five in January."

"You shouldn't give up being the Executive Secretary to start over as a fish cleaner at forty-four."

"If that's the price of coming home, I will pay it. But I AM coming home."

"Miss Drew, didn't your father work for Angel Bay?"

Roxanne shivers.

"Miss Drew, are you all right?"

"My father worked for Angel Bay for over 40 years. He died there of a sudden heart attack two years ago. And I worked there, cleaning fish, every summer during the War. But I will not be applying there now."

"May I ask why not? As a legacy, and as an ex-employee, wouldn't you have an advantage over other applicants?"

Roxanne shivers again. "I've met Angie, as everyone seems to call her, twice. At my father's funeral two years ago, and at my mother's funeral today. I met her mother, who looked exactly like her, ... "

(Roxanne notices Elizabeth and Barnabas glance at each other at the word "mother")

"...many times when I was a kid. I met her many times when I worked at Angel bay. And before that, when I was a little girl, I met her at company picnics and the Halloween parties for employees' children ... "

('Halloween?' Barnabas wonders)

"... Halloween ... It's funny, but I just realized, she gave a Halloween party for the kids every year, and a New Years Eve party for the adults, but never a Christmas party, never an Easter egg hunt.

"Anyway, both of them gave me the creeps." She shivers yet again. "Please don't repeat that to anyone, Mrs. Stoddard. I don't want Angie to hear about it, even though I am not applying at Angel Bay."

Elizabeth smiles.  
"Your secret is safe with us, Miss Drew. And please accept my compliments on your instincts."

Roxanne smiles too and says, "Thank you, Ma'am."

Elizabeth is a strong, determined woman, so she knows strength and determination when she sees them. "Please send me a resume, including your contact information both here and in New York. Address it to Collinwood Manor, we don't have a functioning business address yet."

"Yes, Ma'am. Thank you, Mrs. Stoddard." They shake hands again, then Roxanne shakes the black-gloved-hand of Barnabas Collins again. "Thank you, Mr. Collins. It was a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure was mine, Miss Drew," Barnabas replies with a bow. After Roxanne walks away, he says, "Miss Drew's confidence and initiative are admirable, Elizabeth."

"Indeed," Elizabeth replies, as she admires other things about Roxanne's receding figure. Before she and Julia became lovers, she never admitted to herself that she admired such sights.

"When she said she would 'call her boss,' did she mean she would make a telephone call to him, just as you did to Mr. Harridge?"

"Yes, Barnabas."

"Ah, perhaps I am 'getting the hang' of the 20th century. But tell me please, what are 'the creeps'? Are they some species of bodily parasite?"

Elizabeth smiles and says, "No, Barnabas. I think I better let David explain the term to you." This is not the 1st time she has answered him this way. She always refers him to David to spare him the rudeness and sarcasm he would suffer in a conversation with Carolyn. "But I will say that 'the creeps' are an appropriate reaction to meeting Angelique ... and her 'mother.' Hence my compliments on Miss Drew's instincts."

* * *

Once again, there is a voiceover by Barbara Blackburn. This time it is accompanied by motion picture images of Barbara Blackburn as Roxanne, as Roxanne walks back to her car. There are tears in her eyes, but a smile on her lips.

"My name is Roxanne Drew. I was born and raised in the fishing village of Collinsport, Maine, as were my parents before me and their parents before them.

"And now I am coming home to it. I am coming home to the sound of gulls, and the smell of fish, and the sight of waves crashing against black rocks.

"I am coming home even if it means commuting all the way to Portland, or starting over as a fish-cleaner at the Collins Cannery.

"And I am coming home even if it means my future sex life will consist entirely of masturbating. Masturbating to fantasies of:  
1\. my ex-girlfriends in New York, except for that prick-loving-bitch Chris.  
2\. the girls I knew in high school - girls I could not even look at for very long at a time for fear of being suspected.  
3\. the many movie and TV beauties I have lusted for through the years, such as Anne Francis, Barbara Eden, and Eva Gabor. And those are just three of the blondes.

"And as of right now, fantasies of Mrs. Elizabeth Collins Stoddard.

"I am coming HOME."

**NOTES:  
**1\. Barbara Blackburn, a redhead, played Carolyn Stoddard and Millicent Collins in the 1991 remake of _Dark Shadows_. Jessica Chastian, also a redhead, played Carolyn in the unfinished, un-broadcast 2004 _Dark Shadows_ pilot.

2\. Tim Burton's version of _Dark Shadows_ was released 21 years later after the broadcast of the 1991 remake of _Dark Shadows_. That is why Roxanne Drew worked for South Hudson Insurance in New York for 21 years.

3\. Roxanne's birthday is in January because the primetime _Dark Shadows _began in January 1991. She will be 45 on her next birthday because:  
a. On the Blu-Ray of Burton's _Shadows_, Kathryn Leigh Scott says the original _Dark Shadows _began, " ... forty-five years ago, two days ago ... "  
b. In the original _Dark Shadows_, the character of Barnabas was introduced in 1967. Burton's _Shadows_ was released 45 years later, in 2012.

4\. Roxanne's car is a red and white '59 Ford Country Sedan because:  
a. I like '59 Fords.  
b. The '59 Ford section of the book _Cars of the Fabulous '50s_ includes a photo of a red and white Country Sedan. And I repeat, what kind of name is that for a station wagon?  
c. I can refer you to 2 movies with '59 Fords with '59 Fords in them. You will find these movie references in my story "Julia and Roxanne," chapters 1 and 2.

5\. The original _Dark Shadows_ began in June of 1966. 1965 to 1966 was:  
a. the 1st season of _Green Acres_, starring Eva Gabor.  
b. the 1st season of _I Dream of Jeannie_, starring Barbara Eden.  
c. the 1st and only season of _Honey West_, starring Anne Francis as TV's 1st female private eye, 11 years before _Charlie's Angels_.

6\. "Chris," Roxanne's "prick-loving-bitch" of an ex-girlfriend, is named after:  
a. Chris Hargensen, the queen of the mean girls in _Carrie_.  
Chloe Grace Moretz played the title role in the 2013 remake of _Carrie_.  
b. Chris, the ex-girlfriend of Dr. Kim Legaspi (Elizabeth Mitchell), in one episode of the TV series _ER_. Dr. Legaspi was the 1st Lesbian lover of Dr. Kerry Weaver (Laura Innes, a redhead). Chris was not very nice to Kerry.


	2. Chapter 2 Baking

**"The Roxanne Drew Story: Chapter 2: Baking"  
**When Roxanne gets back to her house ... HER house. That will take some getting used to. When Roxanne gets back to her house, she is suddenly hungry. The night before, the neighbor lady next door on one side had brought her a ham, and the neighbor lady next door on the other side had brought her a pound cake, and the neighbor lady from across the street had brought her some homemade bread. She cuts a slice of ham and a thick slice of bread for lunch, and some pound cake for desert. She eats while typing her resume and a cover letter on her late father's huge antique Remington. She rereads them to be sure they are correct, then rolls an envelope into the machine to type on her return address and Mrs. Stoddard's address.

She folds the sheets and seals them in the envelope. She is reaching for a stamp when she has a better idea: deliver it in person.

But 1st she has to call Mr. Sam McCoy, her boss at the South Hudson Insurance Co. in New York. She paces the house, barefoot again, until 1:05 PM, when she is sure he will be back from lunch.

She tells McCoy about her decision and how she came to make it.

McCoy is shocked by Roxanne's resignation. He tries to talk her out of it. When that fails, he tries to talk her into giving 2 weeks notice. He is prepared to demand 2 weeks notice. Roxanne points out how smoothly things are running without her. Effie, her assistant is doing a great job. She had questions every time Roxanne came back over the last 4 weeks, but fewer questions each time.

McCoy can not argue with that, and consents to Roxanne leaving immediately. He asks Roxanne to recommend someone to replace her.

"That's obvious," Roxanne replies. "Effie Perrine."

"I was just thinking the same thing. At least we agree on that." Then he says he wants to throw a going away party for Roxanne.

"No thank you, Mr. McCoy. I just want to clean out my desk, say goodbye to everyone, and go."

"Roxanne, have you heard the saying that funerals are not for the dead, they're for the living?"

"Yes." There is a tremor in Roxanne's voice.

"I hope this isn't an offensive analogy on the day of your mother's funeral, but a going away party is for the people who stay as much as it is for the person who's going. And in this case we are not just saying goodbye to you. We are saying goodbye to the best cookies and cakes this office has ever tasted."

Roxanne bursts into tears. "You can thank my Mom for that! She taught me how to cook."

"Oh my God! I'm sorry, Roxanne."

"No, don't apologize, Mr. McCoy. I knew when I got up this morning I would be crying on and off all day. In fact, I want to thank you for telling me how to pass the hours today. I'm going to bake! You're saying goodbye to the best cookies and cakes the office has ever tasted? Well I am going to rub it in by bringing a whole basket of them to my own going away party!"

"That is the one part of this I look forward to."

"I have to go, Mr. McCoy. I have to buy flour and things and I have to take my resume to Mrs. Stoddard. I hope you will say good things about me if she calls you."

"You can count on it, Roxanne."

Roxanne's 1st plan was to ride to Collinwood on her bike to deliver the resume. Now that she is coming home to stay, she was willing to deal with people who want to console her. But now time is a factor, and she must bring home all the things she needs to bake. So she gets back in her car.

The yellow '57 Chevy is no longer at the cannery, so Roxanne keeps going up the north road out of town to the front gates of Collinwood.

How many times had she ridden out this way on her bike when she was a kid? When she was alone, she would just stop and look at the gates for a few seconds, and then ride on. When she was with a mob of other girls, they would all stop and dare each other to touch the gates. They were all afraid of the monsters rumored to live at Collinwood. Someone would always point out what everyone already knew: that the bars of the gate were so close together that if the monsters pulled you in through one of the gaps, the bars would break all your ribs, making it easier for the monsters to eat your heart and lungs.

Eventually, one girl would barely press one fingertip against the gate, then scream and pedal frantically away, with everyone else screaming and pedaling too. After all, the monsters might not be satisfied with one little girl - they might come out after the rest of them.

And Roxanne stopped to look at the gates every time she rode this way as an adult on the 10-speed bicycle she bought 12 years ago. But she never touched them. She always thought that would be silly.

This is the 1st time she has stopped her parents' car ... NO! It is _her_ car now! ... the 1st time she has stopped in front of the gates in a car. She does not waste time looking at them. For the 1st time in her life, Roxanne opens the gates to Collinwood. She drives through, gets out to close the gates behind her, and then drives the rest of the way to the great house of Collinwood.

She parks behind the yellow Chevy station wagon in the circular driveway. She does not waste time looking at the house, but walks straight to the front door. Three times she swings the big knocker in the image of King Neptune. She waits ... and waits. She is about to knock again, when the door opens to reveal a grizzled middle-aged man. Her mind goes blank for a moment, and then she remembers a name long associated with the Collins family.

"Mr. Loomis?"

Willie stands up straighter. It has been a long time since anyone called him "Mister," and an even longer time since a pretty girl called him that. (Roxanne is 44, closer to 45. But in Willie's mind, "girl" is the word for any female human who is younger than he is.) "Ayuh."

"I'm Roxanne Drew." She offers her hand.

Willie just stares at Roxanne's hand for a few seconds. It has been a _very_ long time since a pretty girl offered to shake hands with him. He finally takes her hand and says, "Pleased to metcha."

Roxanne hands him the envelope and says, "Would you please give this to Mrs. Stoddard? She's expecting it."

"Ayuh, right away."

Roxanne smiles. "Thank you, Mr. Loomis. Good day."

"Good day, Miss Drew. You're welcome."

Like Tony Peterson and the gas station attendant and Miss Elizabeth before him, Willie watches as Roxanne walks away. "God, she is so pretty," he thinks. It eventually occurs to him that she will think he is a creep, if he is still staring at her when she turns to get in her car. He softly closes the door.

Willie knocks on the door of the drawing room and then goes in. Mr. Barnabas and Miss Elizabeth are working on a stack of papers on her desk. Willie thinks, "The cannery ain't even open yet, and they already have paper work."

"Yes, Willie," Elizabeth says.

Willie crosses the room and hands the envelope to her. "Miss Roxanne Drew was at the door. She said you were expecting this."

An astonished Elizabeth says, "I was expecting it by mail in a day or 2, or even 3 days. She brought it in person?"

"Ayuh. A real pretty girl with red hair and gold glasses."

"Thank you, Willie." Elizabeth holds up the envelope and says, "Barnabas, you said it yourself - Miss Drew's confidence and initiative are admirable."

"Indeed."

On her way home, Roxanne stops at Parker's Market to buy flour, milk, butter and everything else she needs. Mrs. Parker was at Mrs. Drew's funeral, while Mr. Parker minded the store. Roxanne tells them she is baking for all the people in her office in New York, which is true. She does not tell them she is coming home. She wants to tell her relatives 1st.

She gets to work as soon as she gets home. She mixes up a big batch of pound cake batter, pours it into baking pans, and puts them in the oven. Then she starts calling her relatives. When she has called all of them, she calls Parker's Market to let Mr. and Mrs. Parker in on the news.

Pound cakes, chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, a Bundt cake. It is after dark when she finishes. She packs it all into the picnic basket she and her parents had used so often. She cuts the Bundt cake into quarters and puts them in the corners of the basket.

Then she takes a shower. After the shower, she fills the tub with bubble bath and soaks until it is time to brush her teeth and hit the sack early.

She has a train to catch tomorrow.

**NOTES:  
**A. Sam McCoy is named after Sam Waterston, who played Jack McCoy on _Law and Order_. The fictitious South Hudson Insurance Co. is named after the equally fictitious Hudson University that appeared in more than one _Law and Order_ episode.

B. Effie Perrine, played by Lee Patrick, was Sam Spade's secretary in _The Maltese Falcon_ \- a Warner Brothers picture, the same as Tim Burton's version of _Dark Shadows_.


	3. Chapter 3 The Day of the Collins Fires

"The** Roxanne drew Story: Chapter 3: The Day of the Collins Fires"  
**The Collinwood Happening was on a Saturday night.

Barnabas killed Dr. Hoffman on Sunday morning, and disposed of her body that night.

Roxanne's Sunday morning is much more pleasant. She walks to church, as she always does. After church, she walks to the Lowell Apothecary (the Collinsport drugstore) to have lunch at their lunch counter, as she always does. A hamburger, a Coke, and a chocolate sundae. When she lived in New York, she missed these drugstore hamburgers almost as much as she missed the ultra-fresh fish and lobster of Collinsport.

But then she does something she has never done before. She steps over to the cosmetics counter and buys a bottle of pink nail paint. She met Dr. Hoffman for the 1st time at the Happening. She was impressed by Dr. Hoffman's nails, among other things, and has decided to flatter Dr. Hoffman with imitation. She hopes she picked the right color. The lights at the Happening were psychedelic and the lights in the drugstore are florescent, so she can't be sure.

She usually changes her skirt for a pair of jeans as soon as she gets home. This time, she stays in the skirt because it will give her legs more freedom of movement when she paints her toenails.

The only TV station Collinsport receives shows a rerun of _I Spy _at noon on Sundays. It is almost over when Roxanne gets home. She is sorry to see that today's episode is "Bridge of Spies," guest starring the beautiful Barbara Steele. Roxanne has been hot for Barbara Steel ever since seeing her in _Black Sunday_ in 1960.

But the One O'Clock Movie is _Angel Face_ (1952), with Jean Simmons as the villain. Roxanne has lusted for Jean Simmons for over 20 years.

She sits down in the easy chair, puts her bare feet up on the footstool, and paints her toenails for the 1st time in her life. Then she paints her fingernails. She has never painted her nails before, but she does a good job. A paint brush is just one of the tools that her father taught her to use.

But when will she see Dr. Hoffman again? Can she arrange it somehow? A more basic question is, did something really pass between them when they met? Or did Roxanne imagine it?

Roxanne wears high heel pumps at work, as appropriate business attire. But she stores those high heels in a file drawer. She walks to and from work in her black, flat, thong sandals and puts on the heels as soon as she enters the office.

But on this Monday morning, Roxanne walks to work carrying the black high-heeled sandals she wore at the happening. She puts them on as soon as she enters the office, and leaves her usual high heels in the file drawer. And this morning she is wearing an outfit to go with her new nails: a pink blouse and a burgundy pants suit.

Roxanne is at her desk, as she always is, when Mrs. Stoddard arrives.

Roxanne says, "Good morning, Mrs. Stoddard," as she smiles and rises with the appointment book in her left hand, as she always does. "We match!"

Miss Elizabeth smiles back and says, "Yes, we do!" She looks down at her long, burgundy dress for a moment, and then she heads for her office. Roxanne follows, ready to brief Miss Elizabeth on the day's schedule.

But then Miss Elizabeth stops suddenly and turns around. "Did you paint your nails?"

Roxanne holds up her right hand, and wiggles her toes in her sandals. "Toes too," she says. "I admired Doctor Hoffman's nails at the Happening so much that I painted mine yesterday for the first time in my life. Did I match her color OK? The lights at the Lowell Apothecary are florescent, not psychedelic like the Happening."

"You matched it perfectly. And they look great. When Julia gets back, I'll tell her you flattered her with imitation."

"Gets back?"

"She left suddenly on business yesterday ... she didn't even say goodbye to me."

Elizabeth puts more emotion into the 2nd clause than she intended to, and then wants to bit her tongue for being so careless.

Roxanne is horrified too. "Oh my God!" she thinks. "Miss Elizabeth and Doctor Hoffman!"

The term "gaydar" has not yet been coined. But after 21 years as a New York Lesbian, Roxanne's gaydar is razor sharp. It rang like a fire bell when she met Dr. Hoffman. It has never made a peep about Miss Elizabeth - until now.

**Flashback: "****The Night of the The Collinwood 'Happening' "  
**Dr. Julia Hoffman sits at her table in her red dress, swaying to the sound of "No More Mr. Nice Guy." And although no one else knows it, she is tripping on the blood of Barnabas Collins.

Miss Elizabeth introduces Roxanne and Tony to Dr. Hoffman. Dr. Hoffman says a very brief "Good evening" to Tony. But she holds Roxanne's hand and looks over the half-moon-glasses into her eyes longer than anyone else's.

Roxanne finds herself wondering, "Is there something in Dr. Hoffman's eyes, a thing I have seen so many times before ... "

Still holding Roxanne's hand, Dr. Hoffman tries to make conversation. "Are those glasses just for reading?"

"Yes, Doctor. I wear them all the time so I never have to look for them."

Dr. Hoffman laughs. "You must be a Maine girl, a levelheaded practical Yankee."

Roxanne laughs too. "That's me, Doctor. Even after twenty-one years in New York, that's me." She is thinking, "Oh yes, there's something in those eyes alright."

Tony says, "Pleased to meet you, Doctor Hoffman. Roxanne, shall we dance?"

Roxanne knows that Tony hates to dance, so she gives him a puzzled look. But she also knows that Tony is far more socially adept than she is, so she says, "Sure." But before moving away, she smiles at Dr. Hoffman and says, "Very pleased to meet you, Doctor Hoffman. Please excuse us."

As Roxanne and Tony walk away, Roxanne wonders, "Did I put the right emphasis on the word 'very' ? Enough for Dr. Hoffman to notice it but no one else to notice it? I never expected to meet anyone like her in Collinsport. I hope I handled it right."

As Tony and Roxanne do the Twist, while the other and younger dancers do ... whatever it is they are doing, Roxanne says, "Tony, you hate dancing, so why did you ask me to dance now?"

"I noticed that our mutual boss looked unhappy about your conversation with Doctor Hoffman, so I decided to get you out of it."

"Why on earth would she be unhappy about it?"

* * *

Now Roxanne knows why Miss Elizabeth was unhappy about her flirting with Dr. Hoffman. Now she knows why Miss Elizabeth _recognized_ it as flirting.

They spend the rest of the morning being awkward with each other for the 1st time since they met.

Elizabeth wants to tell Roxanne, "If I've lost Julia, it's because I neglected her while Barnabas and I restored our home and business. I hope the two of you can make each other happy."

Roxanne wants to tell Elizabeth, "I had no idea you and Dr. Hoffman were lovers, or I never would have flirted with her at the Happening. I would not lift a finger to take her away from you."

But both of them remain silent, each fearing she has misread the situation.

They are saved by the bell. The telephone rings.

Roxanne picks up the receiver after the 1st ring. She learned in New York that people are sometimes startled if you answer in the middle of the 1st ring, so she always waits for the 1st ring to finish before she picks up.

"Mrs. Stoddard's office."

"Roxanne, this is Vicky at Collinwood. I have to speak to Mrs. Stoddard, right now. It's urgent."

Roxanne can tell by Vicki's voice that something is badly wrong. "Yes, Vicki. Hold on for a second and I'll get her."

There is an intercom between their offices, but they rarely use it. Roxanne stands up and steps into the open door of Elizabeth's office. "Miss Elizabeth, Vicki is on line two. She says it's urgent and she sounds upset."

"Thank you, Roxanne," Miss Elizabeth says as she reaches for the phone. Roxanne pulls the door shut as she quickly backs out, to give Miss Elizabeth her privacy. But just before the latch clicks shut, she hears Elizabeth almost scream, "WHAT!?"

"Oh God, what now?" Roxanne thinks as she returns to her desk.

Less than 2 minutes later, Elizabeth comes out with her purse in her hand. "Roxanne, I have to go home. Roger ... Roger is leaving Collinwood, he's deserting David."

"Oh my God! Miss Elizabeth, I am so sorry. If there is anything I can do ... "

"Mind the store, Roxanne. Cancel my appointments or postpone them or handle them yourself, but mind the store. I don't know if I'll be back today."

"Yes, Ma'am," Roxanne says in her most confident and determined voice. "Take care of your family, Miss Elizabeth. I'll take care of this."

"Thank you, Roxanne." Elizabeth goes, thanking God Roxanne came into her life.

Roxanne thanks God she has things to do, to stay too busy to think too much about personal things, either her own or Miss Elizabeth's.

It is late afternoon before Miss Elizabeth comes back. She asks a few questions, gives Roxanne a few instructions, and leaves again with a stack of paperwork.

* * *

**"The Night of the Collins Fires"  
**Roxanne Drew is soaking in a bubble bath. She is still trying to find the words to tell Miss Elizabeth that she is not a rival for Dr. Hoffman's affections. She is also touching herself under the bubbles, to a fantasy of a threesome: herself, Miss Elizabeth, and Dr. Hoffman.

Then the earth moves, but not the way Roxanne expected it to: she _feels_ as well as hears the Collins Cannery explode.

Dripping bubbles, she jumps out of the tub. She pulls on her bathrobe and wraps a towel around her wet hair. Barefoot in robe and towel, she runs out her front door and looks around, freezing when she sees the red glow of the fire behind the buildings to the north of her position. "No," she tells herself, "that is NOT the Cannery. NO! NO! NO!"

She runs back inside, dries herself quickly and incompletely, and pulls clothing onto her damp body. Panties and jeans and a sweater. She does not waste time putting on a bra. But out of long habit, she does put on something else before she puts on the sweater.

Roxanne puts on her gold-rimmed half-moon-glasses and then puts a green knit cap over her wet hair. It's the same cap she wore on hunting trips with her father and every winter she spent in New York.

A green knit cap on her head, but black thong sandals on her feet. "These are my luck," she tells herself, as she pulls them on. "I was wearing these when I first met Miss Elizabeth and Mr. Barnabas. I have walked to and from work in them everyday. They have brought me luck, and if I wear them now, it will not be the Cannery that is burning."

She locks the front door behind her, and starts walking. She walks to the Cannery, just as she has walked to and from work every day. But this time, she prays every step of the way that the fire is not the Cannery. And she whispers to herself, over and over, "It is not the Cannery, it is not the Cannery ... "

The closer she gets, the harder it is to believe what she is telling herself. Tears are streaming down her face the last block, even before she turns the last corner and sees the flaming Cannery.

And then Angelique arrives. She plays the tape of Barnabas confessing to mass murder, she makes her speech, and then she leads the police and the lynch mob to Collinwood.

Roxanne does not waste time trying to stop the mob. She runs to the phone booth in front of Lowell's Apothecary to call Miss Elizabeth and warn her. She digs into her purse and grabs the 1st coin that comes to hand, even though it's a quarter rather than a dime. She drops it into the phone, and dials 666-0099, the number of Collinwood.

The phone screams in her ear.

"What the hell?" She hangs up, retrieves the quarter from the coin return and tries again. The phone screams again.

Roxanne drops the screaming receiver and starts running. "I'll call Miss Elizabeth from home," she thinks. And then she stops running. "I am on foot. The lynch mob is in cars. There is no f***ing way I can get home before they get to Collinwood."

Roxanne walks home, except she staggers more than walks, with tears pouring down her face. Most of the townspeople are in the streets or their yards, watching the glow of the fire and talking about it. Many of them offer to help Roxanne, but she shakes them off angrily and staggers on alone.

Then she hears people screaming and sees them pointing to the northeast. She looks and sees Collinwood burning on its hill overlooking the town. She wants to collapse right there and then, but she stays on her feet until she is inside her own front door. She collapses on the floor just inside the door and throws her glasses across the room to get them out of the way. She puts her face in her hands and sobs. She has cried this hard only twice in her life - when her father died, and 2 years later when her mother died.

**NOTES  
**1\. In the 1991 prime-time remake of _Dark Shadows_, Barbara Steele played Dr. Julia Hoffman and Jean Simmons played Elizabeth Collins Stoddard.

2\. Roxanne says, "Good morning, Mrs. Stoddard," at the 1st greeting of the day, and "Miss Elizabeth" after that.


End file.
